


Inner

by Coralbits



Category: VVVVVV
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Minor Injuries, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26697577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coralbits/pseuds/Coralbits
Summary: Violet writes a brief memoir about Vermilion.
Kudos: 2





	Inner

**Author's Note:**

> This is based loosely off of my own experiences and things I've read mentioning the inner child concept.
> 
> Critique is very much appreciated.
> 
> Enjoy!

My first meeting with Officer Vermilion was not too pleasant. To put it bluntly, he was a bit of an asshole. He was rude, definitely. Remarks were made that did not need to be made. He seemed arrogant at the time as well.

Said meeting was within a small room. The six of us were encouraged to sprawl out however we wanted on the couches. Vermilion took advantage of that wording to the fullest extent he could. It was my first time meeting everyone besides Captain Viridian face to face. I myself only knew everyone's names.

Luckily for us, Viridian had icebreakers. These included such questions as, "What do you want to do up in space?", "What one food would you want a lifetime supply of?", and, my personal favorite, "What's a dumb way you've gotten physically hurt?" Whenever we would respond, Vermilion would sometimes commentate on it. This did not go over well with Doctor Victoria especially, I noticed. Whether or not Vermilion noticed, he still kept on jabbing.

It was strange to me, as Vermilion and Viridian looked as if they were very close. However, Viridian was his foil when it came to being a prick. As a result, my most prominent thought was, "While I do not doubt Captain Viridian's ability to hold us together, I will not enjoy being Officer Vermilion's subordinate". I also wondered how he even got his rank.

We all soon learned during our drills together. Vermilion did in fact have a good amount of skill, strength, and endurance. So, he wasn't exactly arrogant. However, when he, Chief Verdigris, and Viridian would inevitably outperform us in some way, he would pretty much call us "losers" and laugh in our faces. When Viridian told him to knock it off, he resorted to making childish faces. By that, I mean he would stick his tongue out and pull on his lower eyelid.

I came to discover that one upping him was always delicious. He would pretend to throw a fit, but would compliment whoever won. It was still pretty funny to watch, though, especially if our drill was getting particularly heated. Because of that, I figured that he was just trying to be funny. Whether he actually was being funny was hit or miss.

After a few months, we were finally granted our ship, the D.S.S. Souleye. I believe I can recall Viridian bursting into tears of joy, but I definitely remember Viridian giving each of us a tight hug. I might have cried a little, too, though at the time the ship didn't really have any sentimental value to me. So, off we went into space, with the task of... whatever the higher ups felt like giving us. Mostly research related. Victoria actually started coming out of her shell on those missions, which was nice to see. When she let it slip that she knew how to play guitar, we would practice together in the bedroom.

Professor Vitellary completely nerded out, which was funny to me, given that he was the oldest of us. I don't doubt that he was part of the reason Victoria became more outgoing. I used to have to nag him to make him get at least a few hours of sleep. One can only protect a sleepless man for so long from the allure of caffeine. To be fair, though, he didn't ever actually develop an addiction to it.

Verdigris, when he wasn't maintaining the ship, would usually default to sitting in front of his terminal. His headphones would be on, and he would be creating music. This was before we had decided to start playing, so he just made his own stuff. Occasionally, he would ask for us to listen, and his face would turn a darker shade. That might have been when I started to have a crush on him, but that's beside the point. It was cute.

Viridian was almost never inside the ship, if it could be helped. Viridian was always outside, and would go on and on about how amazing it is to explore new places. I almost never saw them with anything worse than a neutral expression. I would say that out of everyone on the ship, Viridian was the easiest to read. That would change eventually, though. But before that time came, Viridian was completely open to us. It definitely made everyone more comfortable, and any tension would eventually be resolved with them hugging us.

Which leads me into Vermilion's shenanigans. 

When Vermilion wasn't allowed to fulfill his wanderlust with Viridian, he would do his best to minorly inconvenience everybody. This mostly meant him taking things like pens and pill bottles and swapping their locations. Which was annoying. Sometimes, however, he would come up with a more elaborate plan. One I can recall is when he swapped the contents of the orange juice and lemon juice cartons. The victim of that prank happened to be Viridian, who absolutely hates sour things.

It was dark, since we were all watching a movie. Viridian went off to go get a drink. The next thing we heard was Viridian spitting out a mouthful of lemon juice. We all turned around and stared at Viridan, who stared at Vermilion with a sour face. So, we all then turned to face Vermilion, who looked back at all of us with a shit-eating grin.

"Vermilion," Viridian began asking, "Did you mix the lemon juice with the orange juice?"

"Nah, I just swapped 'em," Vermilion replied.

"Please unswap them after the movie."

I once asked Vermilion why he continued to be such a goddamn pest. He responded, "What, is it not okay to be different?"

I replied to him, "It is, except you're _intentionally_ trying to be annoying.

"Are you sure?"

I took too long to try to come up with a good rebuttal, because he then smiled and said:

"Nah, you're right. I just like fucking with you guys." And then walked off.

Inevitably came the day when we were ordered to leave our homeworld and find a way to save our species, somehow. By that point, we had already been in space a few times. But now, we were sent off to explore the unknown with no pointers other than either "find somewhere habitable", or "solve dimensional collapse". Luckily, I didn't have to concern myself with being the one to find those solutions. I'm the medical doctor.

What I have to concern myself with instead is the wellbeing of my crew. Back then, that included making extra sure that nobody died. After all, it was before we discovered the checkpoints. Not only that, but now we were far, far away from home. Those life saving technologies we had in excess were in limited supply on the ship. And what if you couldn't get back to the ship in time? You could die out there, alone.

But you don't think about that when it happens. If you do, well, you're fucked. You can't overthink in the heat of the moment, and that skill of not overthinking is something you have to develop. 

So it wasn't all that fun when Vermilion almost died in front of my eyes.

It was well-known by then that he was reckless. To a degree, Viridian was as well, but not nearly as much. We would frequently see Vermilion return to the ship with scratches and dents all over his armor. If anything got through the exposed nylon of the suit, I had to treat it. When we were on a mission, I fully expected that he and I would have to go into the medical room at least once a day. It would be more if the suits weren't so durable. 

We happened to be passing by a planet that was unmarked on our map. So, obviously, Viridian decided to land on it. When we looked outside, we found it had sparse vegetation. The atmosphere, though, was not breathable for us. Regardless, Viridian, Vermilion, and Vitellary went out to explore.

I was doing pushups on the bridge when Vitellary started screaming into my ears. I had to turn on my microphone and yell back at him to shut up and tell me what happened. He told me that they had encountered a hostile lifeform, and that Vermilion's right thigh had been torn open. After he elaborated that the lifeform had been killed, I told him to fashion a tourniquet above wherever Vermilion was bleeding from. Viridian chimed in that they were already getting the tourniquet on his leg, and that he was bleeding "a lot". I told them to also bandage the laceration.

I should probably elaborate here that we would always carry first aid kits in the backs of our suits, along with our breathing units.

Anyways, I asked that they tighten until the bleeding stopped. I asked Vitellary how far away they were from the ship. He said that they had wandered off around one and a half kilometers away. I asked if Vermilion was still conscious, and he was.

For a few seconds, I thought. Should I go there? Should I prepare? Fuck!

I told them to start moving Vermilion to the ship, but to keep his injured leg elevated no matter what. After that, I ran to find Verdigris. At that point, I doubted Victoria would be able to handle the situation. I doubted Verdigris, too, but I figured he was the better option.

In short, I yelled for Verdigris to run out there and assist them while I prepared the medical room. Off he went, and I got everything I needed. Then I sat back down at the bridge.

I don't remember when they arrived. I opened up the entrance, and we got Vermilion out of his suit, into the medical room and onto a bed. My attention was primarily focused on the fact that Vermilion had not stopped bleeding. He was pale, and he was gritting his teeth. The first thing he did was to ask me for water.

So, I got to work. What else was I supposed to do? I covered his core with a heating blanket. I found the cut vein and sealed it shut. I sutured his muscles together, and then his skin. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Viridian standing there, staring. I looked up, which was a mistake. The tears streaming down Viridian's cheeks almost short-circuited me. I had to look away. At some point, they left, although I wasn't paying attention. 

I injected Vermilion with his stem cells in order for the muscles and skin to regenerate. I got a bag of his blood and warmed it. I found the vein I needed in his arm and inserted the IV catheter. I eyed his face, and we made eye contact.

"What are you feeling?" I asked.

"Thirsty," he replied. "Kinda cold, too." He was breathing slowly, although it sounded forced.

"What did you do this time?"

He scowled at me, which made me realize that I asked the wrong question. "We got jumped. I dunno, maybe I stepped on its favorite stick?"

"I'm sorry," I said. He harumphed and averted his gaze. "Would you like water?"

"Yeah."

There was a tiny fridge in the room specifically for water. I gave him a cup of it, and as I watched him drink, I was suddenly hit by an unseen force entirely in my mind. The word I attached to it was "relief". I tried, and failed, to retain composure. So, I began sobbing. My body curled up, and I had to sit down.

"Violet?" Vermilion asked, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"No no, you're fine, don't worry," I replied, "I was just scared."

I thought I had grown another head with the way he looked at me.

"What?"

"Scared of what?"

I was taken aback. "What do you mean, 'Scared of what?'? I was scared that you were going to bleed to death, asshole!"

The little shit had the gall to smirk. "And what if I did bleed out, huh?"

"I don't want to think about that."

"Why not?"

My urge to strangle him peaked at that moment. After that peak, however, was a straight drop into misery. I opted to stare at the floor. I never knew how fleeting anger could be until that moment. Did I really have to say it out loud? Was it not a given?

"Violet?" 

I looked up.

"I..." he cleared his throat. "I guess I was scared, too."

I took a deep breath, and I got up. While I went ahead and attached electrodes to his skin, I asked him what had happened.

He told me that a large lifeform, with a "metal" appearance, had seen them. It immediately charged at the trio with its scythes outstretched, so they fought back. Vermilion was attempting to kite it when it slashed him.

After a while, his skin had regained its vibrant red color, and his eyes were darting around. Since he told me he was fine with letting everyone else in, I did exactly that. Everyone immediately surrounded the bed, and Viridian gave Vermilion a tight hug. They hugged everyone, actually.

Anyways, Vermilion ended up fine after the stem cells did their work. He had to exercise his leg muscles as well, but it wasn't long before he was back to normal. Mostly. 

More often than before, he would seek me out for company. We quickly figured out that the best way for us to spend time together was by playing competitive video games. Otherwise, he would wear me out with his babbling.

I would say we became friends.

Friends, in the loose sense. We mostly only discussed trivial things. Such as, the game we were playing, or what he had seen outside, et cetera. Sometimes, we argued. Mostly over such things as whether you pour the milk or the cereal first.

The only other times we would be together was when the ship landed to be refueled. That was when we would visit the local shops. Surprisingly, Vermilion would manage to avoid pissing anyone off. Mostly. Occasionally, Vermilion would be a bit of a dick, and we would have to go into damage control mode. A few of those occasions weren't really his fault, but escalated regardless. For example, he once bumped into someone who was in a foul mood. Vermilion apologized, but the being snapped at him. He quipped back, and it came to a point that Viridian and I ended up having to jump in between him and a being that was thrice our height. Not very fun, but we all made it out without a fight.

Those sorts of situations were probably what helped Vermilion and I specifically to grow closer together. I didn't really notice at the time, though. It was pretty miniscule.

When that changed was on what I recall as just another exploration day otherwise. Vermilion had returned to the ship and asked me to play. I obliged, we connected our controllers, and we sat down and began.

Vermilion was oddly quiet while we played. I figured that if I wanted to know why, I would have to be patient. A few rounds of our game passed before he paused.

We eyed each other.

"Do you want to talk?" I asked quietly.

"Not really." There was something wrong with his voice.

My eyes lingered before looking away. "Maybe you should go to sleep. You might feel better when you wake up."

"Maybe." He shuffled a little closer to me, so I looked back at him. 

"Do you need anything?" I asked. 

"I... don't know," he mumbled. "A blanket?"

So, I went ahead and got him an extra blanket. He wrapped himself up, and he seemed to relax. I sat down next to him and waited.

"Do you have parents?" Vermilion asked.

"Yes, why?" I could only wonder what this was going to lead to.

"I don't."

"Since when? As in, when did you begin to, well, not have parents?"

"As far back as I can remember."

I thought about what exactly he was saying. If he was insinuating that he had been adopted, wouldn't he instead state that he didn't remember who his birth parents were? I asked him if he was ever adopted.

"No." He looked away. "Well, I sorta was."

"By who?"

"Someone bad," he whispered. "But he's not my parent."

Oh. "So, why are you thinking about this now?"

Vermilion shifted around. For the first time, I watched his face droop. "I'm always seeing it, everywhere I go. Parents. Family. Stuff like that." 

"You're constantly reminded, then?"

"Whenever we're out in public, yeah."

He appeared small, then. It seemed he was on the verge of tears, although I had never seen him cry up to that point. I thought for a moment, and then asked him if he wanted a hug. He accepted.

After he had nestled himself into my arms, I considered what I should next say. Would I be correct in assuming it was what he wanted to hear? Was it even true? I knew that my crewmates were good, but would we ever be that close?

"We can be your family, if you would like," I told him. "Granted, it wouldn't really be the same, but-"

Arms emerged from his blanket cocoon and squeezed me tightly. It was the first time we had ever hugged each other. 

"Alright," I said quietly.

He pulled away and thanked me before shutting off the game and walking away.

After this event, he began to mellow out more often. It made sense to me then why Viridian and Vermilion were so close. I just hadn't been seeing all of Vermilion's character.

I managed to see him playing games with Victoria. He and Verdigris seemed to be getting along better. He and Vitellary were having conversations that didn't result in the Professor getting frustrated. What was odd, though, was when he would quietly sit in the bridge with me. It wouldn't be for very long, but he did it enough times that I grew accustomed.

Then, he broke the silence.

"Can we talk?" He asked me.

"About?"

"Stuff."

I eyed him. His face was impassive.

"Stuff about me, I mean. Like, therapy. If ya do that," he clarified. His voice went up slightly. 

"I can do therapy," I replied. "I'm not a specialist, and I have my vices, but, I'll listen."

Over the course of about a couple months, he told me things that I in good conscience cannot transcribe. It explained why he was who he was. And as he slowly opened himself up, he would break. Many tears were shed, mostly on his end. I would frequently end up nearly being crushed by his hugs. It truly hurt to see him in that state. It still hurts to know what he went through. Over the course of my career, I had seen and heard about horrible things from a handful of patients. This was my first experiece where that patient was my friend. 

During that time period was a movie night, where we would all gather up in front of a widescreen terminal. It was some old, surrealist comedy. I was in between Vermilion and Victoria. Viridian was on the other side of Vermilion, with their arms around both him and Verdigris. Victoria was leaning onto Vitellary.

At some point, the protagonist was down on his luck, and his mother attempted to comfort him. The scene itself was fine, but I felt Vermilion lean onto my shoulder. When I looked over, he was staring at me. There were tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

"I can't tell if I'm supposed to cringe or not," he whispered back.

I put my arm around him. I noticed Viridian watching me with a sad smile. 

"Violet?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you be my mom?"

I paused. "In what way?"

He closed his eyes. "I don't know."

"Alright." I returned to facing the screen.

I don't really have much else to note down here other than a summary: Vermilion opened himself up, and now, he's mostly just our harmless goofball. He likes to cuddle and talk to me sometimes, but he does the same with everyone else, too.

Whether or not I want to have children is something I still haven't made up my mind on. What I know for sure, however, is that Vermilion is my son. Figuratively, of course. 

I'm proud of how far he's come.


End file.
